[env-trinity] Trinity Journal Editorial: Really? No economic impact on Trinity whatsoever?

[Thomas Stokely]

Really? No economic impact on Trinity whatsoever?
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Posted: Wednesday, August 14, 2013 6:15 am
The word “Trinity” is mentioned just seven times in the Bay Delta Conservation Plan’s massive 244-page Statewide Economic Impact Report. It is most often accompanied by the phrases “no effect” and “limited impact.”Granted, most of the economic impacts of this plan, which includes Gov. Jerry Brown’s twin tunnel proposal, fall within the Delta and points farther south.
But the report glosses over the economic impacts of the BDCP plan to the North State, much as previous reports have glossed over the social and environmental impacts — though at least one environmental report finally mentioned a greater chance of shallow pools in Trinity Lake under the proposed plan.
The closest the economic plan comes to mentioning any impact in Trinity County is that all North State reservoirs “could experience slight variations in storage and elevation patterns.”
The cynical among us might read that as “we might suck your lake dry every now and then, but tough luck.”
It’s possible, we suppose, that the state will adhere to what proponents have been touting — that this is a conveyance plan and they don’t plan on taking any more North State water than they currently receive. In that case, the economic impact north of the Delta would, in fact, be limited.
But we have a hard time believing the state’s water agencies would build a huge new multi-billion-dollar conveyance system without seeking additional water supplies. If so, there will be a definite economic and environmental impact on Trinity County and the North State.
From the amount of electricity generated from sending water through the Carr and other powerhouses to the fisheries to recreation on and around the Trinity River and Trinity Lake and the businesses which rely on such, there will be impacts.
Those impacts deserve to be part of the conversation.
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